Emmerdale viewers have been watching with interest as Rakesh spirals deeper and deeper into financial problems, all the while lying to his unknowing wife Priya.

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Next week will see Chrissie set him up by secretly photographing their intimate liaison and Priya and Rishi discover that £20,000 has gone missing. Fiona Wade and Pasha Bocarie, the actors who portray the couple, discuss what lies in store for their relationship.

Chrissie really stitches up Rakesh when she takes a photo of Rakesh kissing her, doesn’t she?

Fiona: She does. It’s a complete phoney kiss. There are a number of things you’ll see her do against me which are completely abhorrent and manipulative and mean to get her way. And then you’re going to see Rakesh finally just blow up with her.

Would you like them to stay together?

Fiona: Yeah!

Pasha: Yeah. She’s shown a lot of support to him and I think it would be sad if they can’t rescue that relationship.

Fiona: Whatever happens, there needs to be a big showdown at least. We will see but it’s definitely going to be huge.

Who would win if Priya went head to head with Chrissie when it all comes out?

Fiona: Priya, for sure. She’s strong, she’s feisty, she’ll fight for what she wants and she’s good at fighting for a man, Priya. She doesn’t let anyone walk all over her.

Even though she’s quite a privileged girl and a bit of a princess, she’s had to fight for respect and for people to take her seriously, I think. She’s had to fight being a woman in that family and she’s overcome her other stuff like her eating disorder. She is strong. She would win a battle.

Has the audience’s reaction to Rakesh changed since the fire? Do people shout ‘get rid of Rakesh’?

Pasha: He’s the village badboy.

Fiona: People are starting to feel a little bit sorry for Priya but I think they’re just enjoying the drama of it all. He’s not getting too much bad stuff.

Pasha: I read some person on Twitter saying, ‘Is it wrong that I don’t want Rakesh to get caught?’ There is an element of that, I think. Of course what he does is wrong, and I’m not defending that, but it’s written well in the sense that you do see the reasons and motivations and the struggles. “My daughter asked me, ‘Why did you set fire to that house?’ I was like, ‘The money’! She’s eight. My nephew asked me the same question. That’s the kind of bad reaction I’ve had.

Is there any way of saving the marriage if Rakesh comes clean rather than if Priya finds out?

Fiona: There’s always hope. We don’t really know what’s going to happen but they’re a strong unit. People can get over a lot of things but I think definitely whatever happens there will be a journey. It will be horrendous for her either way.

Pasha: I think you’ll probably see a story of how it will affect her character, which will also be interesting.

You can watch a 60-second rundown of next week’s episodes of Emmerdale below.

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